An Investigation of Content and Media Images in Gay Men's Magazines

Abstract

This study provides an analysis of gay men's magazines, examining both the content and advertisements. Four magazine titles were selected, including The Advocate, Genre, Instinct, and Out, each targeting gay men as its target audience. These magazines were coded for both article content and advertisement content. In the advertisement analysis, both the type of advertisement and characteristics of the men depicted within the advertisement when present. The results mirror previous research findings relating to the portrayal of women, including the objectification of specific body parts and the high community standards set by the images depicted. These findings were reinforced by both the advertisements and content analyzed to include a high degree of importance being placed on having the right body type. Implications for further research are discussed.

Full text

Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 55(3) 2008
Available online at http://www.haworthpress.com
© 2008 by The Haworth Press. All rights reserved.
504 doi:10.1080/00918360802345297
WJHM0091-83691540-3602Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 55, No. 3, August 2008: pp. 1–26Journal of HomosexualityAn Investigation of Content and Media
Images in Gay Men’s Magazines
Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. CaronJournal of Homosexuality Jason A. Saucier, MS
Sandra L. Caron, PhD
University of Maine
ABSTRACT. This study provides an analysis of gay men’s magazines,
examining both the content and advertisements. Four magazine titles were
selected, including The Advocate, Genre, Instinct, and Out, each targeting
gay men as its target audience. These magazines were coded for both arti-
cle content and advertisement content. In the advertisement analysis, both
the type of advertisement and characteristics of the men depicted within the
advertisement when present. The results mirror previous research findings
relating to the portrayal of women, including the objectification of specific
body parts and the high community standards set by the images depicted.
These findings were reinforced by both the advertisements and content
analyzed to include a high degree of importance being placed on having the
right body type. Implications for further research are discussed.
KEYWORDS. Gay men, magazines, content analysis, advertising,
media images
Jason A. Saucier, MS, is a former graduate student in human development at
the University of Maine and is currently pursuing a Master’s in nursing at Johns
Hopkins University.
Sandra L. Caron, PhD, is a professor of family relations/human sexuality at
the University of Maine.
Address correspondence to: Sandra L. Caron, PhD, University of Maine, 5749
Merrill Hall, Orono, ME 04469 (E-mail: sandy.caron@umit.maine.edu).

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 505
Research on women and the ways in which they are affected by the
media have been well documented for decades. Body image, eating disor-
ders, low self-esteem, and low self-efficacy have all been linked to how
the media presents women in advertisements and mainstream popular
American television (Green & Pritchard, 2003). For years advertisers
have portrayed a specific body type that only few females can actually
mold their bodies into (Groesz, Levine, & Murman, 2002). Through inter-
nalization, advertisements and popular culture are setting a high standard
of beauty that women are attempting to live up to, one that is physically
impossible for most women to attain (Kilbourne, 1999).
In addition to advertisements, article content in women’s magazines
has also been linked to social constructs that women have been found to
follow (Pierce, 1990). For example, an analysis of Seventeen magazine
articles from 1960 to 1985 investigated the subject matter of the material
incorporated and correlated this to the feminist movement and its chang-
ing entity over time (Schlenker, Caron, & Halteman, 1998). Analysis of
the magazine’s content indicated a relationship between the articles and
the development of the women’s movement, suggesting a connection
between what is mass produced in the media and the behavior of the pop-
ulation targeted. Together, advertisements and articles set a precedence
and milieu that harbors images and feelings, weighing down not only
women in America, but men as well, who have set a high standard in
accordance with acceptable body shape and size.
In recent years, advertisers have increasingly targeted men and male
self-image (Barthel, 1994; Ehrenreich, 1983; Rohlinger, 2002). When
looking specifically at ads geared toward gay men, advertising spending
in gay publications increased throughout the 1990s from 61.6 million in
1995 to 73.7 million in 1996, and from $120 million in 1998 to $155.3
million in 1999 (Elliot, 1996; Rothman, 1999; “Spending Increases in
Gay Magazines,” 2000).
One of the few longitudinal studies regarding men’s image analysis
was conducted by Law and Labre (2002), which took a 30-year look at
how images have changed in men’s magazines. They analyzed GQ,
Rolling Stone, and Sports Illustrated from 1967 to 1997 and found that
during the past three decades men have increasingly been bombarded
with images and messages concerning the ideal male body and, therefore,
these attributes have become more important to men over the years—
making body image an issue that men are contending with in increasing
proportions (Kimmel & Mahalik, 2004; Law & Labre, 2002; McCreary &
Sasse, 2000).

506 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
In the past, the idealized male body portrayed in the media was a much
more attainable goal, being easily achieved it allowed for men to feel
more comfortable with their bodies. It has been found that during the past
three decades that males were exposed to an increased number of articles
and advertisements addressing how to improve their shape, strengthen,
and tone their muscles, and change their exercise habits (Law & Labre,
2002). Also noting the higher number of men dissatisfied with their bod-
ies, these numbers seem to go hand in hand. It has also been found that
gay men sometimes develop a hyper masculine persona attributed by their
lower societal standing and the notion that they are not real men because
of their sexual orientation. This persona is often presented by the push to
have a hyper masculine physical appearance in order to ward off stereo-
types (Kimmel & Mahalik, 2004; Pope, Phillips, & Olivardia, 2000).
Men have begun to show similar symptoms of the internalization of
images (Barthel, 1994; Ehrenreich, 1983; Rohlinger, 2002). Gay men,
especially, are experiencing extraordinary pressure to remain thin and
have a youthful-looking body (Kassel & Franko, 2000). More than het-
erosexual men, gay men have been found to struggle with body image
issues, including but not limited to body dysmorphia, anorexia and
bulimia, and muscularity. It was noted in the 1980s that gay culture
placed a much higher emphasis on being attractive (Lakoff & Scherr,
1984), and more current research has shown that homosexual men are
more likely to be dissatisfied with their body compared with heterosexual
men (Beren, Hayden, Wilfley, & Grilo, 1996).
Over the past 25 years a threefold increase of men dissatisfied with
their bodies has taken hold, representing 43% of men, a number that is
creeping quite close to the number of women who feel dissatisfied with
their body (Pope, et al., 2000). Gay men in particular have set an unusu-
ally high standard of attractiveness, often clouding judgments regarding
their health and well being (Halkitis, Green, & Wilton, 2004). Along
with being lean and thin, a high value has been placed on being thin and
muscular (Williamson & Hartley, 1998), yet little has been researched
regarding what is influencing gay men to make these life decisions. A
study by Kennedy (2000) suggests a link between how men feel about
themselves and the media that surrounds them. Potentially, a parallel
development to what women have been struggling with for years and
what gay men are feeling today exists. Recent work has shown that
internalization of media messages is potentially a causal risk factor for
the onset of eating and shape-related disorders (Thompson & Stice,
2001).

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 507
This study investigates the media messages found in advertisements
and article content in the four most popular magazines for gay men. This
study focused on two research questions:
1. How are gay men represented in advertisements and images found
within popular gay magazines? Specifically, what are the images of
gay men in The Advocate, Genre, Instinct, and Out?
2. What messages are being communicated in the articles of these
magazines? These messages are the substantial aim of the magazine
and create the foundation of the magazines mission and form the
backdrop for the advertisements and images within the article (i.e.,
the supporting photos to the article).
METHOD
Sample
Four popular gay magazines were chosen from the top 10 magazines
distributed in the United States. The circulation of these magazines was
found online through various search engines and sites. The following
descriptions of each magazine were extrapolated from the home website
of each publication.
The Advocate, established in 1967, is the national gay and lesbian
newsmagazine, that addresses the latest issues and breaking stories shap-
ing the lives of gay and straight America, including important stories the
mainstream press does not cover. It is published every two weeks and is
available nationally at newsstands and bookstores throughout the United
States and 17 other countries and has been described as comparable to
Newsweek in reference to both circulation and audience. In 2004, it
produced a circulation of 109.1 million magazines.
Genre magazine, founded in 1992, focuses on fashion, travel, and life-
style issues for affluent gay men. It writes about the people and stories
that are often overlooked by the general media and even some other gay
publications. This magazine highlights the experiences and concerns that
enrich the lives of its readers, reflects the growing diversity and interests
of the gay community. It is nationally distributed and has a circulation
count of 95,000 per issue.
Instinct magazine, established in 1997, is a clever mix of Cosmo and
Maxim. Instinct is funny, sexy, and smart, and is a new kind of gay magazine,

508 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
one that does not take itself so seriously, and affords a welcome break from
the politically correct. It has a circulation of about 75,000 and estimates that it
has an audience of 240,000 since multiple people view each individual maga-
zine and a total of 61.3 million magazines produced for 2004.
Out magazine was founded in 1992 as America's first general-interest
gay and lesbian magazine. Since its inception, it has grown to become the
largest in its niche, with a monthly readership of nearly half a million and
a total circulation of 121 million for 2004.
Procedure
Four issues from each year (2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004) were
obtained for each magazine. This yielded a sample of 64 magazines. Each
year was sampled using one issue from each of the four seasons of the cal-
endar year. Each magazine was examined from page one to back cover.
Articles for content analysis were established through the table of
contents and all articles listed were examined and coded. Advertisements
were coded when they covered one third of the page or more. Smaller
advertisements were usually found within the last few pages of each mag-
azine and made up a similar data pool as that found in the classifieds of a
newspaper. These pages were not included in the data collected. Images
were also limited to the advertisements in the magazine and did not
include any supporting photos to articles.
Definition of Categories
Initial coding categories for the topic of the advertisements were
created. Ads were then coded by each researcher, compared, differences
discussed, and coding categories refined. The following eight categories
were formulated:
1. Alcohol and cigarette advertisements
2. Clothing, beauty products, and other products to enhance one’s
image to others
3. Health products, HIV medications, self-development (e.g., wellness
retreats)
4. Vehicles, electronic products, home products
5. Financial, business, politics
6. Entertainment
7. Travel and gay pride events
8. Other

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 509
A second round of analysis of the advertisements was then undertaken
that focused on the image of the man appearing in the ad. Within each
advertisement, it was recorded whether or not a man was part of the
advertisement. This image of the man was then coded into a number of
attributes that made-up the image of a man. Each advertisement was
coded only once into all of the categories that it fulfilled. The following
five coding categories were used for the image analysis of the men repre-
sented in advertisements:
1. Youthful—if the image gave a representation of a man looking
under the age of 30.
2. Shirtless—man not wearing a shirt.
3. Hairless—contingent on 2, if not wearing a shirt and chest is hair-
less.
4. Muscularity—showed evidence of muscle tone and low percentage
of body fat.
5. Caucasian—the representation was that of a Caucasian male.
Article content analysis was a variation of a model developed by Pierce
(1990), which examined how teenage girls are socialized through
Seventeen magazine. This model was the basic structure of coding, but the
categories were changed to match the mission and genre of what these
magazines are presenting to gay men. The following nine categories
were used to code the content of the articles in these magazines:
1. Appearance—latest fashion, beauty enhancement, how you rate
toward others.
2. Relationships—advice on relationships/dating and any notion
toward dating and relations toward others.
3. Self-development—health, caring for your body, personality, rela-
tions with others of nonromantic interest.
4. Travel—articles that relate to traveling to specific areas, resorts,
cruises, etc.
5. Entertainment—articles on pop stars, film reviews, book reviews,
theatre, etc.
6. Political/world issues—environment, international issues; political
articles.
7. Home—relating to home décor, being a good host, cooking.
8. Product comparisons—articles comparing products of similar
nature to aid reader in choosing the product right for them.

510 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
9. Featured men—articles featuring specific men who are not celebri-
ties, but showcase them for different reasons, such as dating,
making examples of their success as gay men, etc.
Analysis
Each magazine was examined for content in a page-by-page analysis
and counted the number of pages dedicated to each of the categories
established. All advertisement images were at least one-third page size
and images associated with articles were counted as article pages.
The percentages for each category identified were calculated for analysis.
The number of pages attributing to content were counted; percentages
were tabulated and compared.
RESULTS
Advertisements
Examining research question one involved the tabulation of two sepa-
rate tables. Table 1 depicts the numbers of pages designated for advertise-
ments in the appropriate categories. Three values are found per cell, the
first being the number of pages designated to represent advertisements in
that category. The second number within parenthesis is the number of
pages in which a man is used in the advertisements. The third number is
the percentage of the coded category that makes up each specific maga-
zine and for total percentages in the last column.
Alcohol and cigarette advertisements made up 63 advertisement
pages (12%) within The Advocate, 49 pages (9%) within Genre, 60
pages (9%) within Instinct, 175 pages (9%) within Out, and a total of
347 advertisement pages (13%) aimed at alcohol and cigarettes.
Within these alcohol and cigarette advertisements, a total of 76 pages
utilized photos of men within the advertisement. The Advocate
contained 9 pages, Genre contained 9 pages, Instinct contained
20 pages, and Out contained 38 pages of alcohol and cigarette adver-
tisements plus depicted men.
Clothing and image enhancement advertisements made up 6 advertise-
ment pages (1%) within The Advocate, 63 pages (12%) with Genre, 96
pages (14%) within Instinct, 238 pages (14%) within Out, and a total of
403 advertisement pages (15%) aimed at clothing and image enhancement

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 511
products. Within these clothing and image enhancement product adver-
tisements a total of 286 pages utilized photos of men within the advertise-
ment. The Advocate contained 3 pages, Genre contained 48 pages,
Instinct contained 81 pages, and Out contained 154 pages of clothing and
image enhancement product advertisements plus depicted men.
Health, HIV medications, and self-development advertisements made
up 90 advertisement pages (17%) within The Advocate, 105 pages (20%)
with Genre, 104 pages (15%) within Instinct, 127 pages (13%) within
Out, and a total of 426 advertisement pages (16%) aimed at health, HIV
medication, and self development ads. Within these health, HIV medica-
tion, and self-development advertisements a total of 145 pages utilized
photos of men within the advertisement. The Advocate contained 43
pages, Genre contained 34 pages, Instinct contained 39 pages, and Out
contained 29 pages of health, HIV medication, and self-development
advertisements plus depicted men.
TABLE 1. Number (and percentage) of pages devoted to advertisements
in the various categories in The Advocate, Genre, Instinct, and Out a
Categories of ads The Advocate Genre Instinct Out Totals
n = 519 n = 517 n = 679 n = 967 n = 2682
1. Alcohol and cigarette 63 (9) 49 (9) 60 (20) 175 (38) 347 (76)
12% 9% 9% 9% 13%
2. Clothing and image
enhancement
6 (3) 63 (48) 96 (81) 238 (154) 403 (286)
1% 12% 14% 14% 15%
3. Health, HIV meds,
self-development
90 (43) 105 (34) 104 (39) 127 (29) 426 (145)
17% 20% 15% 13% 16%
4. Vehicles, electronic
and home products
82 (9) 53 (19) 53 (16) 179 (34) 367 (78)
16% 10% 8% 19% 14%
5. Financial, business,
and politics
53 (16) 14 (3) 26 (5) 51 (16) 144 (40)
10% 3% 4% 5% 5%
6. Entertainment 111 (8) 92 (19) 112 (44) 109 (2) 424 (73)
21% 18% 16% 11% 16%
7. Travel and gay pride
events
109 (37) 134 (52) 221 (69) 83 (33) 547 (191)
21 % 26% 33% 9% 20%
8. Other 5 (1) 7 (3) 7 (5) 5 (1) 24 (10)
1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
aThree values are found per cell, the first being the number of pages designated to repre-
sent advertisements in that category. The second number within parenthesis is the numbe
r
of pages in which a man is used in the advertisements. The third number is the percentage
of the coded category that makes up each specific magazine and for total percentages in the
last column.

512 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
Vehicle, electronic products, and home product advertisements made
up 82 advertisement pages (16%) within The Advocate, 53 pages (10%)
with Genre, 53 pages (8%) within Instinct, 179 pages (19%) within Out,
and a total of 367 advertisement pages (14%) aimed at vehicles, elec-
tronic products, and home products. Within these vehicle, electronic
product, and home product advertisements a total of 78 pages utilized
photos of men within the advertisement. The Advocate contained 9 pages,
Genre contained 19 pages, Instinct contained 16 pages, and Out contained
34 pages of vehicle, electronic product, and home product advertisements
plus depicted men.
Financial, business, and political advertisements made up 53 advertise-
ment pages (10%) within The Advocate, 14 pages (3%) with Genre, 26
pages (4%) within Instinct, 51 pages (5%) within Out, and a total of 144
advertisement pages (5%) aimed at financial, business, and political
advertisements. Within these financial, business, and political advertise-
ments a total of 40 pages utilized photos of men within the advertisement.
The Advocate contained 16 pages, Genre contained 3 pages, Instinct con-
tained 5 pages, and Out contained 16 pages of financial, business, and
political advertisements plus depicted men.
Entertainment advertisements made up 111 advertisement pages (21%)
within The Advocate, 92 pages (18%) with Genre, 112 pages (16%)
within Instinct, 109 pages (11%) within Out, and a total of 424 pages
(16%) aimed at entertainment advertisements. Within these entertainment
advertisements a total of 73 pages utilized photos of men within the
advertisement. The Advocate contained 8 pages, Genre contained 19
pages, Instinct contained 44 pages, and Out contained 2 pages of enter-
tainment advertisements plus depicted men.
Travel and gay pride event advertisements made up 109 advertisement
pages (21%) within The Advocate, 134 pages (26%) with Genre, 221 pages
(33%) within Instinct, 83 pages (9%) within Out, and a total of 547 pages
(20%) aimed at travel and gay pride event advertisements. Within these
travel and gay pride event advertisements a total of 191 pages utilized
photos of men within the advertisement. The Advocate contained 37
pages, Genre contained 52 pages, Instinct contained 69 pages, and Out
contained 33 pages of travel and gay pride event advertisements plus
depicted men.
Other advertisements made up 5 advertisement pages (1%) within The
Advocate, 7 pages (1%) with Genre, 7 pages (1%) within Instinct, 5 pages
(1%) within Out, and a total of 24 pages (1%) aimed at other advertise-
ments. Other advertisements included such things as products and events

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 513
aimed specifically toward women, services that are linked to products—
yet not the product itself such as cellular phone plans and Internet hook
up. Within these other advertisements, a total of 10 pages utilized photos
of men within the advertisement. The Advocate contained 1 page, Genre
contained 3 pages, Instinct contained 5 pages, and Out contained 1 page
of other advertisements plus depicted men.
Also coded were physical attributes that men depicted within each
advertisement. Table 2 contains the data collected from examining the
men portrayed in each advertisement. The first number is the number of
advertisements that contain the coded attribute. The second number is the
rounded percentage of this attribute found among the men portrayed
within the advertisements. Note that n for the hairless category is the
number of men found to be shirtless, and therefore a different n is used to
calculate this percentage since it is a contingency question because hair-
lessness was only coded if the male was shirtless. Examples of advertise-
ments depicting these categories can be found in Figures 1–5.
Five attributes were coded for each advertisement that contained a
man. The first attribute had 118 images (93%) in The Advocate, which
consisted of a man depicting youthful appearance, 168 images (90%) in
Genre, 257 images (92%) in Instinct, 290 images (94%) in Out, and 883
advertisement images (98%) total for the four magazines. Within The
TABLE 2. Number (and percentage) of ads with categories of attributes in
The Advocate, Genre, Instinct, and Out a
The Advocate Genre Instinct Out Totals
n = 126 n = 187 n = 279 n = 307 n = 899
1. Youthful appearance 118 168 257 290 883
94% 90% 92% 94% 98%
2. Shirtless 57 120 189 101 467
45% 64% 68% 33% 52%
3. Hairless 56 119 188 99 462
n = 57 n = 120 n = 189 n = 101 n = 467
98% 99% 99% 98% 99%
4. Muscle tone/low
body fat
58 125 203 89 475
46% 67% 73% 29% 53%
5. Caucasian 116 168 269 298 851
92% 90% 96% 97% 95%
aThe first number in each cell is the number of advertisements that contain the coded
attribute. The second number is the rounded percentage of this attribute found among the
men portrayed within the advertisements.

514 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
Advocate, there were 57 advertisement images (45%) that contain a shirt-
less man, 120 in (64%) Genre, 189 in (68%) Instinct, 101 in (33%) Out,
and 467 total shirtless image advertisements (52%) found. Of the shirtless
men coded, a second factor of hairlessness was examined in contingency.
In The Advocate, 56 images (98%) of men were found to have a hairless
chest, while 119 were found (99%) in Genre, 188 found (99%) in Instinct,
99 found (98%) in Out, and 462 total images (99%) of shirtless and
hairless men.
Muscle tone and low body fat were the next category coded, The Advo-
cate contained 58 images (46%), Genre contained 125 (67%), Instinct
contained 203 (73%), Out contained 89 (29%), and a total of 475 images
(53%) of muscularity were found within these magazines.
The last category consists of advertisement images that contain Caucasian
men. In The Advocate, 116 images (92%) were found, Genre had 168
(90%), Instinct had 269 (96%), Out contained 298 images (97%), and a
total number of 851 images (95%) of Caucasian men were found within all
four magazines.
FIGURE 1. Example of advertisements depicting the attribute Youthful.

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 515
Article Content
The second research question examined the content of the magazines.
Nine categories were developed to code for the content analysis of all the
articles within each magazine. Table 3 shows the results for the coded
content of the articles. The first number in each cell represents the number
of pages designated for each code. The second number is the percentage
of that category within the magazine and in the final column, the total
percentages of all the magazines.
Articles on appearance had a total number of 740 pages (24%) within
all of the magazines. Appearance made up 5 pages (1%) of The Advocate,
279 pages (31%) in Genre, 200 pages (27%) in Instinct, and 256 pages
(30%) contributed to appearance within Out.
The second category is that of relationships. In The Advocate, 9 pages
(1%) of article content on relationships were found, 29 pages (3%) in
Genre, 121 pages (17%) in Instinct, 15 pages (2%) in Out. The total
FIGURE 2. Example of advertisements depicting the attribute Shirtless.

516 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
number of article pages communicating about relationships is 174 and
constitutes 6% of the total article pages.
The third category is self-development, which had a total of 240, mak-
ing up 8% of the pages counted. Within The Advocate, 51 pages (8%)
were counted, 50 pages (6%) within Genre, 98 pages (13%) within
Instinct, and 41 pages (5%) within Out all contributing to self-develop-
ment and advancing oneself.
Travel is category four and had a total number of 177 pages and made
up 6% of the total. From The Advocate, 0 (0%) were found to represent
travel, 92 (10%) from Genre, 47 (6%) from Instinct, and 38 (4%) of pages
from Out were found to make up articles involving travel.
Category five is entertainment, where The Advocate made up 363
pages (57%), Genre made up 254 pages (29%), Instinct made up 170
pages (23%), and Out made up 355 pages (41%). A total of 1,142 pages,
or 37% of articles, were devoted to entertainment.
FIGURE 3. Example of advertisements depicting the attribute Hairless.

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 517
Political/world issues had a total of 351 pages, which makes up 11% of
the total pages. The Advocate made up 207 pages (33%), Genre made up
39 pages (4%), Instinct made up 25 pages (3%), and Out made up 80
pages (9%).
Home and being a good host was found in 117 pages making up 4% of
the total amount of pages counted. The makeup of home articles in The
Advocate had 0 pages (0%), Genre had 67 pages (7%), Instinct had 22
pages (3%), and Out has 28 pages (3%) showing a small number for this
category.
Product comparisons had a total of 169 pages making up 5% of the arti-
cle pages in the magazines. Contributing to this was The Advocate with 0
(0%), Genre with 76 (9%), Instinct with 49 (7%), and Out with 44 (5%).
Featured men had a total of 112 pages 4% among all of the magazines.
Making this up was The Advocate, which had 8 pages (1%), Genre had
29 pages (3%), Instinct had 74 pages (10%), and Out had 1 page which
FIGURE 4. Example of advertisements depicting the attribute Muscularity.

518 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
was much less than 1% (0%). This represents a small category, but one
that you are unlikely to find in many other types of magazines and there-
fore interesting.
DISCUSSION
Advertisements
In analyzing the advertisement topic, the distribution of the types of
advertisements ranged from 5% for ads focusing on financial, business,
and politics to 20% for ads focusing on travel and gay pride events.
The highest percentage of advertisements focusing on travel and gay pride
events was not surprising, since it has been suggested that gay men have
money to spend on vacations and do travel a great deal more, potentially a
FIGURE 5. Example of advertisements depicting the attribute Caucasian.

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 519
result of double income with no children. Financial, business, and politi-
cal ads represented the smallest percentage in every magazine except The
Advocate (10%) and reflect the fact that the focus of most of the maga-
zines under review are fashion, travel, and entertainment.
The findings of the way men are represented within the advertisements
are of particular importance. These are the images that men compare their
bodies to and potentially reinforce or create feelings of low self-worth and
esteem described by Pope et al. (2000). The first category, youthful
appearance, was found in almost all of the images coded for this study
(98%). This “under 30” look is one that has been demonstrated as valued
by the gay community (Halkitis et al., 2004) and reflected here within
these gay magazines. It seems that even The Advocate, the oldest publica-
tion priding itself with a mission aimed at more political and worldviews
and targeting a full range of ages in readership, shows 90% of the men
represented within advertisements appearing to be under the age of 30.
TABLE 3. Content analysis of The Advocate, Genre, Instinct, and Out a
The Advocate Genre Instinct Out Totals
n = 635 n = 886 n = 732 n = 857 n = 3110
1. Appearance 5 279 200 256 740
0% 31% 27% 30% 24%
2. Relationships 9 29 121 15 174
1% 3% 17% 2% 6%
3. Self development 51 50 98 41 240
8% 6% 13% 5% 8%
4. Travel 0 92 47 38 177
0% 10% 6% 4% 6%
5. Entertainment 363 254 170 355 1142
57% 29% 23% 41% 37%
6. Political/world issues 207 39 25 80 351
33% 4% 3% 9% 11%
7. Home 0 67 22 28 117
0% 7% 3% 3% 4%
8. Product comparison 0 76 49 44 169
0% 9% 7% 5% 5%
9. Featured men 8 29 74 1 112
1% 3% 10% 0% 4%
aThe first number in each cell represents the number of pages designated for each code.
The second number is the percentage of that category within the magazine and in the final
column, the total percentages of all the magazines.

520 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
The second category is that of shirtless men. Results showing that half
(52%) of all the men depicted within the magazines are shirtless is not
surprising when one considers that most of the advertisements are related
to travel category, and most of these are for tropical and warm destina-
tions. However, shirtless men were found among every topic category,
including an advertisements selling life insurance. Of the men found
without a shirt, all but 1% of these men have a hairless chest. Since many
men naturally grow hair on their chest, one can infer that either these men
are truly perfect or they are willing to undergo the very painful experience
of waxing or electrolysis.
The third coding category included muscularity and low body fat and
was noted when these features were visible. It was found that half of the
men in the advertisements had very low body fat and a high degree of
muscularity. It should be noted that ads containing only headshots or men
in loose clothing inhibited coding in this category. If these men were able
to be distinguished as muscular or not, it is most certain that this percent-
age would be far higher than the 53% reported, since nearly all the men
were clearly not obese.
Finally, in terms of the images portrayed, if a person outside the United
States were to look at these magazines and assume that is was a reflection
of the general ethnic makeup of gay men in America, then they would
deduce that 95% of the population is Caucasian. Obviously, the gay com-
munity is made up of more than 5% of other ethnic groups and yet one
would not know this by looking at these magazines. Overall results of the
analysis of the advertisements found that the image of a man depicted in
these popular gay magazines is that of a young, shirtless, hairless, muscu-
lar, low-body-fat, Caucasian man. Such an image is one that few men
involved in the readership of these magazines fit into.
Article Content
The article content within these magazines followed many of the same
trends that are found within the advertisements reported above. A high
degree of importance is placed upon an expensive lifestyle and looks.
Over one third (37%) of all the articles feature entertainment and popular
culture, while only one tenth (11%) feature political and world issues. The
Advocate was found to have a much higher contribution to content focus-
ing on the political and world issue category (33%), while the next high-
est magazine with this type of content is Out (9%). It is not surprising that
The Advocate had the highest percentage in this category because it is

Jason A. Saucier and Sandra L. Caron 521
promoted as a newsmagazine. What is surprising is that, despite being
promoted as a newsmagazine, only a third of their articles contribute to
this mission.
The second highest rated article content is that of appearance and fash-
ion, which makes up a quarter (24%) of the total article content. When
combined with the 37% of articles focusing on entertainment, one can see
the primary message of these magazines appears to be about the impor-
tance of fitting into popular culture. In addition, related to the appearance
category is the featured men category, which reinforces the appearance
and fashion message by advertising men that can be idolized for
their good looks. These findings are consistent with others that have
found gay men are extremely critical about how one should look or dress
(Halkitis et al., 2004).
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE OUTLOOK
There were several limitations related to this study. The first limitation
is that the magazines selected for analysis are magazines focusing on pop-
ular culture. None of the most popular magazines identified for use in this
analysis (those having the greatest circulation) was found to concentrate
primarily on national or world events. Therefore, the findings that a large
number of ads and article content that focus on fashion, appearance, and
travel is not that surprising. A second limitation that may have impacted
the results is that ads that did not constitute at least one third of a page
were not included in the analysis. This meant that the last few pages of
each magazine, where hundreds of classified ads appear, were not
counted. The content of these ads, and their impact, has not been included
or analysis.
CONCLUSION
Despite these limitations, this study provides a detailed analysis of the
four most popular gay men’s magazines, examining both the content of
the articles and the advertisements. The results mirrored previous studies
that have examined the content and advertising of women’s magazines.
Kilbourne (1999) attests to how women are objectified in advertisements
and a similar finding has been demonstrated here in that men’s bodies are
objectified and made into a superficial image. Much of what being a gay

522 JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
man is relates to traveling and what fashion style is in. The men depicted
in these popular gay magazines fit a particular mold. They send a message
to their readership that says they should be young, hairless, Caucasian,
interested in popular culture/entertainment, and of course, they should
like to travel. Groesz et al. (2002) and Kilbourne (1999) suggest that
many men will internalize popular images and as a consequence develop
a sense of negative self-worth. Although most men can never attain the
ideals presented in these magazine due to genetics or economics, these
magazines portray a look and a lifestyle look that seems commonplace
and easy to attain. Clearly, further research is needed to investigate the
role such magazines might play in the development of low self-worth and
negative body image among gay men.
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